Meryl Streep Is Only Human

It seems that criticism of all-white domination in the film industry, as typified by this year's batch of Oscar nominees, isn't relegated to only this side of the Atlantic. At this year's Berlinale Film Festival, which kicked off on Friday, the international jury is being chaired by none other than Meryl Streep, and beneath her are six other white people all from Europe (including a fairly attractive actor by the name of Clive Owen).

At the internationally chic film festival's opening press conference, Meryl fielded several questions about equality and diversity, being quick to remind reporters that, even if the panel is monochromatic, "at least women are included, and in fact dominate this jury."

While this received some approving chuckles, the Oscar Queen made herself just a touch too comfortable in an analogy when responding to questions from reporters regarding the race card, and specifically whether she understands the struggles of characters in films from the Arab world.

"I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures," Streep responded. "There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we're all from Africa originally. We're all Berliners, we're all Africans, really."

Now, taken out of context, the comment does of course sound rather naive and maybe even ignorant, but that's just it--it's taken out of context. True, this skates toward a rather sensitive topic, with controversies surrounding Zoe Saldana's casting as Nina Simone or--if you can believe--Joseph Fiennes being tapped to play Michael Jackson. But Meryl was simply trying to appeal to the sense of humanity that likens all of us, regardless of culture or origin.

The really uproarious thing about this mini-media-uproar is the suggestion that deep down, we need to be concerned that Meryl Streep is a closet racist. Really, folks?? Don't forget she went on an all-out war against Disney and his well-documented history of racism and misogyny. Now, that's the Meryl we love.